Young mom gets support from Erie services

By AMANDA P. BURLINGHAMContributing Writer

Friday

Mar 26, 2010 at 12:01 AM

At 22, Katie De Pew is surprisingly polished. Well-spoken and neatly dressed, she presents as a professional 10 years her senior. But De Pew has more riding on her job as front desk administrator than the average 20-something, and she's worked harder than most young people to get where she is.

De Pew is a single mother to preschoolers TaJana, 6, and Marcel, 4. She first became pregnant at 15, and said, "I was bound and determined not to become a teen stereotype."

Knowing she needed support and guidance to thrive, De Pew tapped into several free and subsidized community resources, including the Nurse-Family Partnership, an organization committed to helping first-time mothers succeed. Nurse-Family Partnership staff members serve as conduit between first-time moms in need and community services.

"We want to help moms do all the things for their babies that they want to do," said Rhonda Yates, R.N., De Pew's nurse-home visitor.

"We want them to be the best mom/baby team they can be."

Often, that means collaborating with local organizations to provide health education and teach life skills, as well as offer parenting preparation.

"Most frequently, we make sure (clients are) enrolled in WIC and have a primary health-care provider," Yates said. "If they need services such as immunizations or STD testing, we refer them right back here to the Erie County Department of Health," Yates said.

But physical health-care referrals are just the beginning. Moms may require mental health care for perinatal and postpartum depression. They could be homeless, addicted, or in abusive relationships and need shelter, treatment, or counseling. They may be uneducated, uninsured, unemployed, or need an advocate within the county's children and youth services. Because of that, each of the nurses is integrated in the community and knowledgeable about social services to help clients navigate Erie County's system efficiently.

Yates visited De Pew up to twice a week throughout her pregnancy and during TaJana's first two years, helping her maintain a healthy pregnancy, connecting her with a doula and birthing classes, and training her in baby basics, such as breast-feeding and early child development.

With Yates' encouragement, and the support of her high school's teen parenting program, De Pew not only graduated with her class, she also worked nights to support her growing family.

"I was going to school in the morning, picking my kids up, coming home, going to work, coming home, doing schoolwork," De Pew recalled. It would have been a near-impossible feat without her mom's help and the subsidized day care she received through a local center. National statistics reveal that only one-third of teenage mothers receive a high school diploma.

"(Nurse-Family Partnership) was the most beneficial program I was in," De Pew said. "There is a good possibility I would have dropped out if not for everybody backing me in the program and giving me resources or advice or a shoulder to cry on."

Collaborations like those that supported De Pew's aspirations to rise above her circumstances are the cornerstone of the Erie Community Foundation's work to improve the lives of vulnerable community members.

The ECF has formed community advisory panels focused on increasing access to services in health care, early childhood education, and postsecondary education and work force training, thereby reducing risk of poverty.

"The community advisory panels are a perfect example of the power of collaboration," said Michael Batchelor, Erie Community Foundation president. "It's something maybe none of us could do by ourselves, but together, we can decrease the poverty rate and improve our community."

De Pew will forever be grateful to Nurse-Family Partnership and the many organizations that have helped shape her from a teenage girl to a caring mother.

"I told Rhonda 'thank you so much' all the time," De Pew said. "Without that program and without the parenting program at my school, I wouldn't be where I am today."

Source: "Kids Having Kids: A Robin Hood Foundation Special Report on the Costs of Adolescent Childbearing," Robin Hood Foundation

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